The Modern Baby

This baby is definitely a product of the modern age. For a start, her parents met in an online computer game back in 2004. People just didn't meet like that back in the Old Days. We used to chat on IRC at 7am each day, while I was having breakfast and he was getting ready to go to bed - and no, this wasn't an international relationship, we lived about 15 minutes drive away from each other in the same city.

The first time I went to see a doctor I got an inept one who had just moved here from Africa, and he wanted me to do a fasting blood glucose test - fasting in the morning being possibly the worst thing you can do when you're slightly pregnant. So I looked up on the Internet what tests he should actually have done (I should have been weighed and measured and given an orange book according to the SA Health website) and then went to a different doctor who actually had a clue.

Then there are all these marvelous things on the Internet that I didn't really know about back in 2000 the first time I was pregnant. They are called "forums", and there are dozens of them, crawling with very helpful women in various stages of pregnancy and motherhood. I've put links to a bunch of them in my links directory under "for parents" on the main site menu. You can get advice on just about anything on forums. While you should take it all with a grain of salt, if you ask a question and 30 people give you largely the same answer and a stack of advice with it that doesn't contradict too much, chances are the information is good. However, asking about formula feeding on a breastfeeding forum or planned C-sections on a homebirth forum probably won't give you the desired response.

The other marvelous invention for all new parents is eBay. Given how long babies and pregnant women stay in their clothes for, there is a huge market for second-hand baby and maternity gear. Most of the new baby's gear is from eBay in some way shape or form; some new, some secondhand, all cheaper than retail. And if you don't want to just buy something expensive sight unseen, you could research it first online - or find it at full price in a brick-and-mortar shop - before committing to an online purchase.

Either way, for this baby I was a lot more prepared and informed, and it was purely because of the Internet.